time off
by Jros
Summary: After ultemecia is defeated, life resumes it's normal courese. relationships blossom and die, old enemies are now freinds, the world rebuilds, The crew heads to F.H. for maintainance and a little R&R. but when they set sail things go awry
1. prologue time off

Prologue Balamb Garden shone brightly in the noonday sun, welcoming visitors with its luminescent glow. Since it became mobilized all students who enrolled had to be placed in a dorm, but the new mobility gave the garden an edge in the field. Since the whole building could move, literally every SeeD could disembark and engage a single enemy. Today it was parked in FH getting regular maintenance. While that was being performed, Squall and Rinoa lounged on the deck in the quad. Rinoa was sunbathing, dressed in a simple blue one-piece swimsuit and pool skirt. Squall's ever-so-rebellious attitude was preventing him from donning such informal attire, should there be an attack he'd be defenseless! However being with the person whose love literally withstood the test of time, made him smile, on the inside of course. The warm salty breeze blew through the quad, rustling scattered litter, and causing the newly planted trees and flowers to sway in the wind.  
"Honestly babe, do you have to bring that everywhere?" Rinoa asked breathily. Squall lowered his new sunglasses just past his nose. "Yea I do, I'm responsible for everyone's safety and I have to be ready no matter what. Besides it makes a great mirror." Squall was referring to his Lionheart, his hybrid gun/sword weapon aptly titled the "gun blade". It was positioned under his chin as you would a tanning mirror. As much as she hated to admit it he was right, he rarely used his gun blade/mirror, but his face had lost the once emo-like paleness that clung to it, and a healthy tan rivaled only by Raiijn's natural complexion took its place. He used his weapon for many odd things, the most notable was when she caught him cutting butter with it because there were no other knives. She laughed long and hard for days with youthful abandon. She was lucky enough to have caught the event on film, it was their Christmas card, and everyone carried one in their wallets, secretly of course. The success of Squall's card was dethroned only by Laguna's card the following year. It portrayed Ellone; face taut in a grimace of pure fury, throwing a shoe at a monster with a caption that read "her first limit break!" "But honeeeeeeey! Its sooo weird, plus you can hurt yourself if you're not careful." Rinoa protested while using her newest junction ability-POUT. Squall was powerless to resist and sighed in defeat. He swung his great sword over to his left side where it promptly disappeared like it always did. "Happy?" Squall pouted back turning his head away. She smiled and nodded her approval. "I'll never understand how you do that." She laughed and stretched. Squall adjusted his chair to a comfortable recline, he was thinking of catching some sleep, and no sooner than his eyes had closed he felt a small weight fall into his lap. Rinoa had jumped from her chair to Squall's and covered his eyes with her hands. "Gotcha!" As he tried to sit up he felt the familiar sensation of a pair of delicate lips against his own. His body froze, welcoming the warm feeling. The kiss was held for a few seconds only but his eyes never opened. He loved the sensations of affection, and one of Rinoa's favorite hobbies was depriving him of them till he nearly begged for them. He had to respect the way in which she made him express himself. Another one of Rinoa's favorite hobbies was making him do things he normally wouldn't do-like moan.  
As Rinoa pulled away from the kiss she suddenly whipped Squall's head back, and plunged her teeth into his neck. One night she discovered this little trick and never got tired of it. As she straddled her man and her teeth did their work Squalls entire body quivered, his toes curled and a low throaty groan escaped from him. "THAT SOUND!" Rinoa thought. She could think of no possible reason that would prevent her from reveling in the ecstasy brought on by that sound. –Except a raucous "BOOYA!" and "YA KNOW"  
Rinoa shot up and made out the distant shapes of Raiijin and Zell standing at the entrance. They were talking very loudly and she couldn't tell if they saw anything. With the romance put on hold, she sighed and leaned back in squalls lap. As she did so, a wrinkle prevented her from sitting in his lap properly. She looked down at him and smiled. He did the same, which caught her off guard. Another tender kiss sent Rinoa into a tiny fit of ecstasy, and she fell and nestled herself on Squall's chest. She slowly slid her hands under his shirt and stroked his chest. He held her with one arm and rested his head on the other. He exhaled deeply and closed his eyes as she held him tight, also intent on some sleep. And as they drifted off to sleep the quad continued as if nothing happened. No one really cared what Squall and Rinoa did together, they saved the garden so many times and in the end the world, after all. They could have sex on the cafeteria tables during lunch and people would probably just move over to give them space, the braver ones would definitely do a play-by-play.  
Thankfully the couple remained humble and didn't abuse the authority, save for a few moments of PDA brought on by Rinoa's desire to melt the ice prince. And nobody could blame them for wanting to relax on this glorious day. They woke up about an hour later. Irvine and Selphie were there, Irvine sitting on the floor and Selphie in his lap. They were sitting beside Squall and Rinoa looking out into the ocean. On days were there were no jobs lined up Irvine replaced his dusty sniper coat for a more casual look. Today he was sporting a light blue collared shirt and black slacks. Selphie on the other hand loved mini-dresses too much to part with them, her scandalous little number made that very clear. She had Irvine's black hat on and his trench coat wrapped around her. A storm cloud had rolled in and blocked the sun's heat. Which was ok because it allowed for snuggles. Selphie was the first to notice them being awake, And leapt up.  
"Rinoa! You're up! Hi Squall!" Selphie shouted with her usual enthusiasm.  
Rinoa squealed and got up too, then gave her a hug. Squall managed to stave off his grogginess long enough to perform a small wave. Irvine did the same. They had just returned from a three-week excursion to Galbadia Garden and were very tired, but they still insisted on seeing Squall and Rinoa before going to sleep. With their good byes said, Irvine hoisted Selphie in the air stood up and caught her, intent on carrying her to bed, and maybe getting some sleep too. "Those two are cute together aren't they babe?" Rinoa said quietly, as their forms disappeared through the doorway. She sat sidesaddle on Squall's lap and caressed his face. "Yes you are" Squall said lazily. Returning the kindness, a small smirk on his tired face.  
"That's not what I asked babe, and you know it." Rinoa pouted and looked away.  
"But that's what I meant"  
Then after leaning in and delivering the most romantically timed kiss in recorded history, Squall picked her up and carried her to bed. 


	2. dejavu?

Chapter 1 Rinoa woke up the next morning groggy but relaxed. Contrary to popular belief that the prince was an absolute animal in bed, squall was always a very gentle lover. Their first time he eased himself in with the most delicate surgical precision. That slow but steady approach led to a series of tumultuous waves of orgasm that animalistic attack could never reach. She slept for a long time after, a wide smile never leaving her face. Today was no different, however when she woke up he wasn't there, he stayed a majority of the time, but sometimes he left to "give her space.  
A strange feeling set in. even if he didn't stay, he always left her some way to find him. But this time, she found nothing that would even indicate he had been there at all. She slid out of bed and put on a robe she had in their closet. As she tied the sash an odd rustling caused her to whip around, ultima spell at the ready. Only empty silence stood. No monsters, no enemies, nothing at all…  
'You're losing it', she thought. As she bent over to retrieve a pair of slippers two spindly arms reached out from the closet behind her. They crept along the floor and raised to attack, they would've succeeded had a shot not rung out killing the creature in the closet.  
Rinoa ducked and turned in the direction of the shot. Irvine had entered and killed something he couldn't see in a matter of a split second, 'no wonder he's a SeeD', Rinoa thought. His face usually the epitome of joviality, was deathly serious, further outlined by a trail of part dry, part fresh blood descending from his temple. He was breathing heavy and fell to one knee clutching his left side, which like his face was bleeding. He dropped his gun as he did so, its loud "thud" audible down the hallway. "CURAGA!" Rinoa shouted. Then her hands created a blue aura that surrounded the cowboy. And as the healing power of curaga enveloped him, Irvine couldn't prevent the long groan he made as he felt life flowing back into him. He fell to both of his knees sucking in air. Rinoa ran over to him and held him close to her. "What happened?" She asked him.  
"Somebody let out the monsters again….. like what happened with NORG"  
"Do you know who"  
"We don't know who they are exactly….. but they call themselves…. 'NOX'. It's tagged all over the training area"  
"Where's everybody else?" she asked sharply, a hint of fear in her voice. "The SABERS are holding the quad the infirmary and the dorms. Squall and I managed to secure the, library and the training center. Zell alone is guarding the dorms, garage, and cafeteria." He managed to stand up and pick up his gun. But he still needed to lean against the wall. "I don't know where Quistis and Seifer are. Selphie and Xu are with the children on the second floor. We're trying to radio the Ragnorok to fly in and pick up the kids from either the quad or if we cant move them, from the classroom itself. But I don't think it's going to work, the powers out. Those punks cut it somehow. We can't make announcements or organize our efforts, so unless all the SeeD get together, Garden is doomed. I came to get you because I thought you might've needed help." He nodded toward the plant like monster he killed upon entering the room. "Looks like I was right." She turned around and was caught in the throes of terror. She had forgotten all about it, and did all she could to hold back a scream. Its corpse was sprawled out across her floor, tentacle like vines withering. Its beady eyes, though very dead still managed to stare at her and bulged out of its head. Its gaping maw only emphasized its insect like appearance. The wound Irvine had inflicted was quite severe, seeing as half the monsters torso was missing, forming a sideways moon shape. Purplish-blue muck oozed from the hole in its body. Rinoa shuddered and looked away. "Where are we now, Irvine?" Rinoa asked, inching away from the fetid corpse. "We pulled out of FH about 2 hours ago." Deep breath.  
"So we're stranded?" She asked, very concerned.  
"Yea pretty much. I don't have any idea how we're gonna fix this mess"  
"If the garden has no power, how come we haven't sunk"  
"This thing's like an ocean liner, no way it could sink on its own, and the propellers are run on an independent circuit"  
"Uh-huh" she said half listening. Her thoughts never leaving Squall, 'Where's Squall? Is he ok'  
She suddenly had an idea that needed voicing. Grabbing Irvine's hand she asked,  
"Irvine, how bad is it out there"  
"It's hell. Nothing else comes close"  
"Well then, lets go"  
"Not like that." Irvine stated, pointing out her less than battle ready attire, "I'll step out…" "No no, stay just don't leer please"  
"Scouts honor" the cowboy smiled his smile and saluted. As she got dressed, Irvine turned and aimed his rifle at the door. Nothing attacked and when she was done. Irvine was amazed. She ditched her blue duster for a black leather jacket, leather pants, leather boots, and a menagerie of belts. She cocked her angel star, pointed at the door and quietly mouthed, 'lets go.' The dorm's door slid open and Irvine went first. He blasted a Grendel that tried to leap out at him. He then broke into a run down the hallway, Rinoa quickly followed. The two mowed their way to the main corridor. Upon their arrival a T-rexaur came stomping through the hall. A flurry of ear splitting roars caused the SeeDs to buckle. As the ancient beast prepared to strike, a series of pounding sounds began to echo, and the dino's head jerked violently every time. After one particularly nasty hit it apparently had enough and tried to run away. But as it turned to flee, a ball of flame rocketed towards the dino and hit it so hard it did a back flip. When the t-rexaur landed it did so with such a thud the garden bobbed in the ocean. "BOOYA!" a voiced boomed seemingly everywhere.  
"Zell! Where are you?" they asked in unison. "Right here guys." His voice was close, and they both jumped when they felt his hands on their shoulders. As they turned they were met by Zell's spastic smile. He laughed uproariously and slapped his knee. "I'm so glad you're ok!" Zell shouted, hugging Rinoa. 


	3. the escort

"Zell how did you…?" Rinoa and Irvine asked in unison. "Limit breaks-lots and lots of limit breaks." Zell panted, His upper body being supported by his hands on his knees. "That's the fourth time I've fought that thing in the past half-hour. It wouldn't die!" he kicked its torso "Anyway, thanks for distracting him long enough for me to meteor-barret it"  
He fell flat on his butt after finishing his sentence. His eyes were in the back of his head. And he was gasping for air. Rinoa quickly cast another curaga. And Zell's body began to writhe as his strength returned. While he recuperated, Irvine and Zell filled Rinoa in on what had been going on in the garden as she slept. At about 2 in the morning an alarm began to blare out. The sabers that replaced the guards loyal to norg started to report electrical failure. Suddenly the first t-rexaur burst through the training center door way. Naturally the sabers went fleeing into the hills. Zell was already out of his dorms making a late night hot dog run as usual. He heard all the commotion and started to shout at the top of his lungs. "MONSTERS! EVERYONE WAKE UP! THE MONSTERS ARE FREE!" That's when Squall came charging through the doorway followed by Irvine. Irvine scratched his head and said sheepishly, "Yea sorry we didn't stay to talk, we just heard screams and ran." Then Zell added, "after that I went into the dorms making as much noise as I could to wake everyone up. I roused the off duty sabers and got the rest of the seeds to their positions. Nida came on the P.A. but before he could say anything his line was cut completely, and was replaced by static. That's all I know" Zell said. Irvine and Rinoa nodded. Then she asked "Are you ok?" Zell nodded. He stood up and stretched, you would have never known he'd been fighting a beast from a by-gone era not but a little while ago. "Zell, where's Squall?" Rinoa asked hurriedly.  
"He's in the deepest part of the training center. The SABERS did one hell of a job sealing up the garden. We were planning to evacuate, but Squall left Seifer in charge and well, you know what that means." He made a bullet to the head motion, "Anyway, he and Quistis managed to clear out the monsters from the infirmary up to the dorms." He traced a line in the air with his finger along the way. "So now everyone's just bringing people in for kadowaki to look at." "That T-rexaur was the last of the monsters on this side of the garden, Squall went into the training center about 15 minutes ago. Said something about 'their leader being there' don't know what he was talking about really"  
Irvine seemed relieved. But suddenly he gripped Zell's shoulders. "How are Selphie and Xu?" "They're fine. No monsters made it upstairs. We've got them holed up in the caf. Go see them if you want"  
And with that the cowboy took off towards the cafeteria and his Selphie.  
Before Rinoa could object, the fluttering coattails of Irvine's jacket were a distant memory.  
"Zell, are all the monsters gone?" Rinoa asked.  
"Yea, like I said this one" he kicked the t-rexaur "was the last one"  
"Great, can you give me an escort to the training center"  
"I guess. Sure. But are you sure that's a good idea?" Zell asked, scratching his head.  
"Squall's there I have to go." She pleaded. "Don't worry about it. We're going if that's what you want to do"  
"Thanks so much, Zell. Really thank-" before she could finish, Zell pulled her close and whispered,  
"Like I said, don't worry about it" and smirked. Rinoa hugged him back. And they turned and headed towards the training center.  
They walked together, keeping close lest a rogue monster come charging at them. Although it didn't look like any would. The garden was as quiet as a graveyard, a graveyard full of monstrous corpses. Zell and Rinoa made small talk along the way, trying to distract themselves from the odors and sounds of dead monsters all around them. "Where did you get that outfit?" Zell asked genuinely. I didn't know they made ice prince for her! "Edea made it for me. She's really such a nice woman. I wish I could have known her better. I wish I could've known the Matron you all knew." She said with a reflective smile. Zell looked down at his shoes and said.  
"Yea, even though those weren't the best times, you wouldn't have been able to guess it. With Matron, every day was a blessing and we felt safe. But that was long ago. And now we can keep Matron, our Matron, safe." and patted her shoulder.  
The violent hiss of a dying grat made them jump. "Oh Hyne. One of those was in my closet!" Rinoa squeaked with complete revulsion "If Irvine hadn't come to get me…" she trailed off and hugged herself They quickened their pace and avoided anything that might have posed a threat. Grendels were the most plentiful creature, so much so they had been piled on top of each other about 10 feet in the air. There were charred bomb husks or just ashes where the bomb creatures once were. There were about 2 other T-rexaur corpses visible from a distance. Rinoa turned to Zell, but before she could pose her question he quickly said, "Wasn't me." And she left it at that.  
As they passed the garage, zell stomped on a large coal black bomb husk, its body crumbling and sticking to his sneakers. He kicked the residue off, muttering.  
"Those bastards gave us so much trouble. They kept getting way too close to the fuel pumps. Nida actually had to block an explosion with his own body. -He's fine though!" Zell added, hurriedly when Rinoa's continence changed from relaxed to horrified, both her hands flying up to her mouth.  
"Yeah Nida is just fine. We managed to get to him before any serious damage was done. I think he's actually on the flight deck as we speak. But Hyne, it was hell!" A thought occurred to Rinoa. "Zell? When we fought norg, there were injured people everywhere. Where are they"  
Zell's expression was that of a mother watching her only child swim into the mouth of a great white.  
"The training center!" He bellowed. And began to sprint head on towards the training center. Rinoa followed after. On the way Zell explained his behavior. "During the first moments of fighting there were obviously a lot of injuries. There were these sabers whose job it was to ferry the injured to kadowaki. They were supposed to go counter-clockwise so they could avoid the training center. Normally the sabers, as you know, are clean cut and tidy. These were strange; their hair was long and knotted and a foul odor clung to them, I just assumed it was because of the fighting and being drenched in monster blood; also they all had these strange marks on them, like burns. Because of the situation at hand I really couldn't pay attention to it, but after what you guys said about 'nox' or whatever, I'm really suspicious now. I'm suspicious because the Sabers took them to the infirmary in the wrong direction. I think those sabers must've… brought the injured to the training center to feed the monsters!" Rinoa gulped hard in her throat, and a sudden surge of adrenaline caused her to run past Zell, positively charging towards the training center. As she rounded the corner a steady series of beeps signaled trouble, big trouble. They increased in speed, and the doorway exploded. As the rubble began to fall, Rinoa pushed herself to the limit and dove through the threshold. Effectively trapping her in the darkness of the training center's hallway behind a wall of broken concrete. Alone. 


	4. chicken wuss

A small beam of light shone through the darkness, and Zell's shout echoed through it, "Rinoa! Rinoa! Are you ok? Answer me!" Before she could reply, another stone fell and blocked the hole. She ran to the wall and began to try to move the stones, but it was useless. They were locked in place. She turned and slumped against the wall. "No…not like this…. I can't do this alone. Help me, somebody….Squall"  
then she slumped to the floor, lowered her head, hugged her knees, and began to cry. From the other side of the wall, Zell was frantically trying to remove the stones, but he too discovered it was impossible. As he turned to get help, four of the dirty SABERS blocked his way. Their bodies began contorting into strange positions, and their speech pattern was very wrong.  
"OH… ZeLLY BELLy!…YOU… DON'T need HELP!….YOU…. hell are you!" Zell shouted, as his mind junctioned Full Life to his Ergheiz.  
"You don't…NEED to know….NOW cOme with Us…… OR we'LL dEep Fry YoU cHicKENwuSS"  
And with that they lunged at him all at once. He ran up the wall and back flipped over them. They continued to run, and hit the wall hard. They fell down in the comedic, legs-coming-up fashion but rolled over and stood up as if nothing happened. They stood facing the wall they just hit, heads jerking violently to the side. Suddenly they whipped around. they grabbed at their clothes and ripped them off, revealing gray, fetid, acrid smelling skin. Skin devoid of any kind of genitalia or nipples, or a belly button. The burns Zell saw earlier were actually tattoos, done in a precise manner that covered the vital organs of the body. They began to quake and the tattoos began to run towards the floor, as if they were being rinsed off.  
The dirty SABERS began to drip and melt. Their eyes investigating what their brains looked like and shrieking like banshees. They eventually formed a black puddle and from that puddle arose a creature with an odor so foul it made garbage wrapped in vomit seem appetizing. It loomed over Zell, standing about 9 feet to his 6. it had one eye, yellow with green pupils. It had a steady stream of puss falling from it. One arm was a useless child's arm, the other about 5 feet in length and heavily muscled with razor sharp claws, was a different story.  
It didn't have legs, but rather a tail-like base that coiled and formed a cone. Its torso like the rest of its body was skinless and rotten in some places. You could see through the ribcage into its chest. Zell fought back the urge to vomit as he watched a black dead heart do its mock job of circulating dead blood into the creatures veins. It sprouted wings and let out an anguished roar. the wings were the traditional bat style wings, except that they were full of holes. Really just skeleton wings. Its gaping maw filled with jagged mismatched teeth of different size, shapes, and species, began to foam. A tongue emerged, Long and thick, caressing the razors in its mouth, cutting itself, not seeming to notice or care.  
It reared up and threw its arm behind itself. its lone eye watching Zell closely. Then it began to laugh and screamed,  
"BWwAHA…..dEeP FriED chicken…..WUSSSSSS!  
And in the blink of an eye, a club filled with knives threw itself at Zell. 


End file.
